GRANBY - In a special Town Meeting on Monday night, voters approved the transfer of $861,304 from the town’s Municipal Building Stabilization Fund to help build a new Granby Free Public Library.

The decision was met with applause, whoops and cheers in the gymnasium of Granby High School, where the meeting was held. Approval of the motion was so overwhelming that the moderator did not need to ask for a count.

Afterwards, an official estimated that, out of the 262 people present, the dissenting votes were in the single digits.

The meeting began with Virginia Snopek, chairwoman of the Library Trustees in Granby, describing the inadequacy of the current library, built in 1917, and the benefits of the proposed new library, including Internet access for people who had none.

Although supporters had been trying for decades to get a new library, “this year it seems the stars aligned for us,” said Snopek.

She reminded the voters of the $150,000 matching grant from Dr. Thomas Bombardier, the donation of land by Alice and Fred Stewart, the $2.6 million provisional grant from the state’s Public Library Construction Authority, pledges of $400,000 from Library Trustees and Friends of the Library, fund-raising efforts and an outpouring of support from businesses, groups, individuals and banks.

“Now we need to raise less than 18 percent of the cost to build a 21st century library,” said Snopek. The new library will cost about $4.5 million.

Later in the proceedings the crowd gave a standing ovation to Snopek, who led a juggernaut of a capital campaign and managed to bring members of the community together.

Wayne Tack, a former chairman of the Granby Selectboard, said the town was “risking a very small amount of money for a very great project.”

The town has $2.3 million in its Municipal Building Stabilization Fund, and $4.1 million in the Stabilization Fund as a whole, according to John Libera, chairman of the Finance Committee.

“The Finance Committee strongly supports this great project,” said Libera.

For all the rejoicing, there was a lingering heartbreak for some, and town activist Pamela Maheu stood up to give it voice.

Last year the town rejected a debt exclusion, or temporary tax increase, that would have made possible a new junior-senior high school in Granby. In the process, the town lost the opportunity to have the state pay for 63 percent of a $45 million construction project.

Maheu would have preferred to keep the Stabilization Fund for school repairs and to vote on an override instead.

Residents have made plain that they will resist higher taxes, which was why another source of funds was proposed. Libera warned that with the closing of the town landfill, and the loss of the revenue that generated, the residents of Granby might not have a choice in the future.